Baby, it's a wonderful news. It's not your fault; (Oliver)

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ stood in front of the bookstore, leaning against the cool brick, pushing her hat up from over her eyes as it kept falling down. She had on a sweater and her black coat along with her purple scarf that matched her hat, so she was pretty bundled up. She knew how to dress for the cold. She wasn't really sure why she wouldn't go inside yet, was it because she was wondering if he'd even show up? Was that even okay to worry about? Besides, she just felt like if she went in there that this was happening, that they were doing this, and she wasn't sure how it was going to work out. But they'd both agreed to try, sitting in that pit of dirt in the woods. And so here she was.

They'd mostly kept to texting and a few visits with Dr. Neville, but they weren't avoiding one another and so that was most certainly a start, but when Oliver's birthday started to approach (she still had the date memorized, as there were certain things you just didn't forget about a person, even if you tried) she felt as if it was as good of a time as any to try and at least ease into being around each other more often. They were both relatively simple so browsing the bookstore and maybe a cup of tea was more than enough excitement for a birthday. They'd decided to meet at the bookstore rather than at the dorms to walk together, mostly because a long walk could make for uncomfortable silence. But standing here on her own waiting for him to show up, hair blowing in her face, she had to admit she was nervous and part of her wanted to flee, but she stayed put.

[Oliver Barnes]

Eighteen.

The beginning of every year marked a new start. The majority of Oliver's senior year had been a blur; writing essays and doing other homework for classes, reading for pleasure in his spare time, debating on where to apply for a job come summertime and refining his ability with Everett. It was safe to say the quiet boy had kept busy, but mostly to himself. He occasionally saw his friends like Addie, but with conflicting schedules it was hard. Not that he minded the solitude; but sometimes, it was nice to do something out of routine.

So, for his birthday, when AJ suggested that they go to the bookstore together, Oliver agreed. They'd been talking to each other on a semi-regular basis, mostly over text message, but it was better than where they'd been a year ago. Besides, it was the perfect suggestion. His parents had sent a card a week before with some spending cash, enough for a few books, so he could actually afford to get something instead of staring longingly at the shelf.

He really needed a job come summertime. He tried not to dwell on it for the time being. Oliver made his way over, the zipper of his jacket pulled tightly up and a grey knit hat pulled over his head. Cold. Still cold. He wrinkled his nose, picking up his pace towards downtown Pilot Ridge. Part of him was nervous, but part of him was also buzzing with excitement. This was a normal thing to do; something they were capable of. He just hoped for easygoing conversation, like how it use to be between them. But maybe that was a stretch.

A couple minutes late, Oliver saw her in front of the bookstore. The wind picked up, as he jammed his hands into the pockets of his jacket. "Hey." He greeted, with a smile. "You ready to head inside?"

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Yes please," AJ told him as soon as he'd appeared, the wind was enough to make her crave the warmth of the inside of the bookstore and so she dug her chin further down into her scarf and opened the door. Once inside, she finally took off her mittens, stuffing them in the pockets of her coat and waved to the girl at the register who she worked with sometimes.

On the outside, Oliver seemed to be a lot more comfortable than she was at the moment, but she had no way of knowing what he was thinking. She wasn't a telepath. If she had been, this wouldn't be the kind of position they'd be in. Instead, she would have known what he wanted to say that night at the dance and maybe felt a bit awkward about it, but they wouldn't be hanging onto their friendship by a thread.

"Have you read anything recently?" she asked, as the both of them basked in the warmth of the bookstore.

[Oliver Barnes]

Oliver followed her inside, raising a hand to lift the hat from his head. Inside was warmer compared to the harsh outdoors, and so he didn't need all of the layers he wore. He unzipped his jacket, cheeks flushing from the sudden warmth as he shrugged in response to her question. "Yeah, I've read a few things. The Book Thief was really good." He recommended. Oliver liked it so much that he was considering buying himself a copy.

Conversation about books were safe. It was something they both sought comfort in. Stories were a way to keep some sort of conversation flow and not let awkward silence lapse between them.

"How about you? Any recommendations?" Oliver asked, his gaze flickering between the bookshelves and AJ's expression.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

Books were a safe topic. She knew that much. Her eyes widened slightly in excitement as he'd suggested The Book Thief. "It was! I'm so glad I finally read it!" And now she was harrassing Adaryn to do so as well, so she had someone to talk about it with. It seemed she didn't need to anymore. "It was difficult to get through though. Not because it was slow, but because it was so sad." She'd shed a few tears, curled up in her bed in her dorm room. She realized they were having a seemingly normal conversation, but were in no way talking about themselves. "Did you see the movie?"

"I read the whole Maze Runner series in a weekend," she admitted. "And I finished Great Expectations...Charles Dickens, you know." She didn't think he didn't know, but she was also sort of nervous. She moved towards the first aisle of bookshelves.

[Oliver Barnes]

"Me too." Oliver agreed, eagerly. It was a great book and kept him on edge; he finished it in one night in his dorm. "Yeah, I couldn't put the book down until I had finished reading it." He admitted with a small laugh, running a hand through his slightly dishevelled hat hair.

"And no, I haven't seen the movie yet. Did you go see it?" He asked, reaching out to touch the spine of the books on the shelves. Glancing at titles. Seeing if anything caught his interest.

Turning his attention back on AJ, Oliver smiled at her. "Sounds like you've done a lot of reading." He wished he could say the same, but somehow, he found himself busy. Recovering from his sprained ankle. Schoolwork. Thinking about the future. Finding a job. The only reading Oliver had done besides The Book Thief was for his classes.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

AJ missed this conversations about books with Oliver. They had such similar tastes that it was so easy to fall into conversation about books for a good hour or two. "No, I haven't. It looked like it would be good though." Should she suggest that they watch it together? Was that too much too soon? She didn't want to get in over her head and ruin their progress.

"Yeah, well..." She didn't want to say that when she wasn't working or in class or doing homework that she was curled up in her bed reading, but would Oliver really find that to be a problem? It wasn't that she was laying in bed staring at the ceiling as she had for a long time when she was first sent to Hammel. "I try." She followed his gaze to the bookshelves, moving slowly down the aisle and pausing in front of specific shelves and then crouching down to view the books on the lowest shelf. They were together, right? "I know if I buy a book today it will probably be a while until it's read. We're graduating soon."

[Oliver Barnes]

Nodding in agreement, Oliver glanced over at AJ before his gaze flickered back to the bookshelf. She hadn't seen it either. At this point, he would have suggested that they go see it together, because that's what friends did. Only, were they friends? He had to assume that they had something.

He would have done it for anyone else. So why not her too?

"We should go see it, you know." Oliver spoke suddenly, a little nervous. "If you have the time." He added quickly.

He glanced down as she crouched to look at the lower shelves. His hand traced the spine of one book, pulling it off to read the synopsis at the back. To see if it caught his interest. And then the subject of graduation came up. Oliver stopped taking in the words, throat dry. "Yeah... it's crazy to think about." He commented. "Feels like just yesterday we were in middle school." Though, it was possible that was just because of their time apart.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Yeah," AJ agreed. It was actually rather easy to agree to it. They were taking things slow, but she was really trying and besides, it would be just two people in a room watching a movie. There wasn't room for awkward conversation. "Yeah, that sounds good. Except we'd have to rent it." She cracked a smile. Had Oliver not realized how long it'd been out for?

"Really crazy." But then he mentioned Middle School and she found herself biting her lip, mostly because she was saddened about how simpler of times that was compared to now. "Wasn't everything so much easier then?" She came back up to her full height, holding onto a book, flipping it over to the back cover to further examine it. Graduation. "Are you....are you going to stay in the area?" She couldn't help but wonder if he was planning on going back to Minnesota.

[Oliver Barnes]

Had it already been out for awhile? Oliver hardly paid attention to the details of his life anymore, much less movie release dates and the like. "Even better. We don't have to go to an overpriced theatre to step on a sticky floor and pay for overpriced food." He began to ramble, with a nervous grin. God, why was he so nervous? They were literally just going to watch a movie together; it's what friends did.

It's what they should have been doing all along instead of avoiding what had happened.

At the same time as AJ, Oliver pulled the title off of the shelf, watching her stand up again. "It sure felt easier back then." He agreed with a nod. The anxiety of the unknown future was almost overwhelming.

"Yeah.. yeah, I mean, I think I am. Mom and dad want me to come back, I think. Maybe I'l visit. But it's sort of nice here, you know?" Oliver rambled, hesitating before looking at AJ. "What... about you?"

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"True," AJ agreed. She knew how he felt. Nervous, slightly on edge. I was obvious in both of their demeanors. But they were trying. "Yeah, it did." She felt like she wasn't ready. And like she'd wasted so much time trying to avoid her wounds instead of trying to heal them and now they were scars. She had a lot to figure out and while she had an acceptance letter to the university of Vermont sitting on her desk, she also had one to the University of Minnesota. She knew where her parents wanted her to go and while they wouldn't be angry at her for not going back (she didn't think so anyway), she almost felt obligated. She'd really estranged herself from them when she'd been trying to deal and really put a strain on their relationship. She felt horrible about it. But she wasn't ready to go back. She hadn't even gotten to where she wanted to be. And how would she work on things with Oliver if they weren't in the same place?

She felt a sense of anxiety and yet relief when he said he thought he was staying. "My parents feel the same way. And I...I know I should visit. I just feel like I'm not as close with them anymore, and it's not just the distance...I crawled inside myself and I should have kept them close." She was still feeling the guilt. She just hadn't known how to handle what had happened to her. She never really talked to them much about her power, or about what happened when it manifested. "I think I'm staying, but I haven't really told them yet." She was looking at him now, and not so much at the book in her hands.

[Oliver Barnes]

The 'real' world was that much more distant in middle school; there was more time to worry about it later. Only now, they were out of time. Graduation was months away and Oliver couldn't afford not to think about those important decisions any longer. The only different was time. Anxiety existed then and now.

And now, there was the pull between his home state of Minnesota and Vermont, the place Oliver had lived the past few years. There were reasons to stay and reasons to go, but one of them was standing right in front of him. Probably the most important reason to consider.

"I mean, I don't think you should feel bad about that. It's kind of natural, the separation. It's hard when you're in a different state." He told her, knowing exactly how that worked. He never told them about what had happened between him and AJ; never spoke a word during the most isolating months of his life before manifestation. When she mentioned that she was staying, Oliver couldn't deny the relief that settled through his form and features. "Good... I mean, that's good yeah. You have to do what you think is right." He tore his eyes away from the back of the book, landing on AJ.

"You get accepted to the U of V as well?" Oliver asked. It was the only school he'd applied to, truthfully.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Yeah..." AJ agreed. "But...it wasn't like I just forgot to call them every so often. I would avoid calling them because it was easy." Sure the distance had made it more difficult to keep in touch, but her parents kept trying and AJ was hurting and so she didn't reciprocate until recently. "I just feel bad about it. I was going through a lot and I didn't know how to let them in."

She really needed to tell them that she wasn't going back. "Yeah, and the U of M back home, but I don't think I'm ready to go back." Maybe if she could just heal first. And there was Adaryn and Oriel and of course, well, Oliver. She gripped the book in her hands a little tighter, not realizing it.

[Oliver Barnes]

If there was one thing Oliver knew, it was avoiding confrontations with parents. So, he sympathized with AJ, knowing all too well how it was easier to never pick up the phone. "Well, you can't change what happened but you could, you know, call them and apologize. For what has been done." Oliver offered as a solution. Maybe it hadn't been the best way to deal with things, but they had to understand.

"Yeah, I know what you mean." His voice lowered, a distant look crossing his eyes for a moment. While the memories of what had been still haunted him at times, it was a little less daunting now that he and AJ were starting to come to terms and talk. His dark eyes soon grew less vacant, noticing how tight AJ's grip on the book now was. "You alright?" He asked, a little hesitantly.

[Amanda Joy "AJ" Lane]

"Yeah, that's probably a good idea," AJ replied, in response to his suggestion. "I should probably do that..." Especially with graduation on the brink. She had to extend the invitation and a flippant text message just seemed uncaring. "I never told them what happened. With us, I mean. I told them that we had a fight. I guess it seemed easier. They barely understood my power in the first place, the idea that their daughter was a meta human. It's like one of my fantasy novels came to life and they've never really understood those..." So how would they have been able to understand what happened with her manifestation? And not blame Oliver? "I didn't want them to blame you and it was just so...." She stopped, looking down at the book in her hands. There were so many words. And yet none seemed fitting.

"I will be," she offered. That seemed like an appropriate answer.